Social networks not before the age of 15

Norway “saves” children: Social networks not before the age of 15

Norway is to introduce a strict minimum age of 15 for social media use, as the government stepped up a campaign against tech companies it says are “opposed to the brains of young children”.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Store admitted it would be an “uphill battle” but said politicians must intervene to protect children from the “power of algorithms”, the Guardian reported.

Norway already has a minimum age of 13, but despite this, more than half of nine-year-olds, 58 percent of 10-year-olds and 72 percent of 11-year-olds are on social media, according to research by the Norwegian Media Monitoring Agency.

The government has pledged to introduce more safeguards to prevent children from circumventing age restrictions, including changes to the Personal Data Act so that social media users must be 15 years old to consent to the platform processing their personal data and develop an age verification system. barrier to using social networks.

Store told the newspaper “VG” that this sends an extremely strong signal.

“Children must be protected from harmful content on social networks. These are big tech giants fighting against the brains of small children. We know that this is a difficult battle, because there are strong forces there, but politics is also needed,” he pointed out.

While he said he understands that social networks can offer lonely children a community, self-expression must not be in the power of algorithms. “On the contrary, it can lead to you becoming single-minded and pacified, because everything happens so fast on this screen,” he added.

Source: Politics, Tanjug

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